Filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) is a major adhesin present on the surface of the gram-negative respiratory pathogen Bordetella pertussis. A number of binding mechanisms have been described for the interaction of FHA with eukaryotic cells. We have focused on its function as a sulfated polysaccharide-binding protein and on identifying potential receptors for FHA on the epithelial cell surface. Us...

Long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC n-3 PUFA) exert health benefits which are dependent upon their incorporation into blood, cells and tissues. Plasma and tissue deposition of LC n-3 PUFA from oils extracted from the micro-algae Nannochloropsis oculata and from krill were compared in rats. The algal oil provides eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) partly conjugated (15%) to phospholipids...

Three distinct fractions containing polar glycolipids (PF1-3) were isolated from the chloroform soluble fraction of crude methanolic extract of red alga Chondria armata (Kütz.) Okamura on gel chromatography over Sephadex LH20. Their structure was elucidated by multidimentional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques like H, H correlation spectroscopy (COSY), H, H total correlation spectrosc...

Sugars are the OPERATING SYSTEM (OS) of the body, processing DNA data, thought, and all cellular communication. Glycomics, the science of sugars, may be thousands of times more complex than the genome project. The eight Royal Sugars used to construct glycoprotein receptor sites that coat every healthy human cell were described by Robert K. Murray, M.D., PhD, in Harper’s Biochemistry first in 19...

L-aspartic acid building blocks bearing galactosyl moieties were used to synthesise glycolipid mimetics of variable hydrocarbon chain length. The glycolipids were readily prepared through amide bond formation using the TBTU/HOBt coupling methodology. It was observed that, under these conditions, activation of the α-carboxylic acid of the intermediates led to near complete racemisation of the ch...

Glycolipids are presented to T cells by human group 1 CD1 proteins, but are not used as subunit vaccines yet. Experimental immunizations with pure mycobacterial glucose monomycolate (GMM) and keyhole limpet haemocyanin (KLH) in cattle, a species which, unlike mice, expresses group 1 CD1, showed that GMM was equally efficient as KLH in generating T cell responses in blood, but not in the drainin...

To extend our studies on glycolipid-reactive invariant Natural Killer T-cell (iNKT-cell) function in multiple sclerosis (MS), we investigated the stimulatory activities of two myelin-derived glycolipids that are poly-acetylated derivatives of β-galactosylceramide designated as fast-migrating cerebrosides (FMC) by thin-layer chromatography. In healthy subjects, FMC stimulation of peripheral bloo...

The development of pest resistance threatens the effectiveness of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins used in transgenic and organic farming. Here, we demonstrate that (i) the major mechanism for Bt toxin resistance in Caenorhabditis elegans entails a loss of glycolipid carbohydrates; (ii) Bt toxin directly and specifically binds glycolipids; and (iii) this binding is carbohydrate-dependent and ...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate the variety of plasma contents of membrane glycolipids in 65 gastrointestinal tumors and 31 transplant hepatomas in mice. MATERIAL AND METHODS The experimental model was a transplantable murine hepatoma. Experimental mice were divided into 3 groups. RESULTS The LSA and TSA content in the 2 groups were significantly difference (p<0.01), and wer...

Homogeneous large (5--30 micrometer) lipid particles comparable in size and shape to blood cells can be obtained when excess of cholesterol is homogenized with egg phospholipids or brain glycolipids in a Dounce apparatus. The particles contain distinct structures of membranes and lipid cores as visualized by the included fluorescence markers. When these particles were used as models in studying...